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The architecture of the Reformat Friars monastery and church in Biala Podlaska (originally Biala Ksiązeca) could be an example of the typical foundation related to the magnate patronage, yet its scale and architectural solutions as well as furnishings locate them in the narrow group of objects slightly going beyond the typical rules. The group of accidentally discovered 18th c. wall paintings in the cloister of monastery in Biala is interesting for many reasons. It is has unexpected complex programme and high artistic level (probably executed in a circle of the artist active at the prince’s court). The paper is the first attempt after the discovery to present the circumstances of the execution and the history of the decoration, related to the history of the church and the monastery. During the technical and conservation research iconographic analysis were done parallel. The main issue to propose further conservation treatment was to determine the extent of the paintings and degree of their deterioration, what could be the base for the conservation programme. It would include complex conservation and restoration treatment and project of arrangement of the historical interiors. The research let to inscribe the group of the paintings to the registers of historical monuments. The paper contains report form the executed research and conservation treatment including: — historical archives search query — ordering conservation exposures — determining stratigraphy — executing stripe exposures — photographic documentation in the ViS, UV and IR light — analyses of the pigments and binding media

Optical Coherence Tomography is a non-contact and non-invasive technique of depth-resolved structural imaging within media scattering and/or absorbing nearinfrared light moderately. It utilizes a concept of low-coherence interferometry and thus light sources must be characterized by low temporal (to ensure high axial resolution) and high spatial (to ensure high sensitivity) coherence. The instrument used in this study has 4 μm axial resolution and over 100 dB sensitivity. The modular construction based on fiber optics makes it fairly easy transportable and not requiring optical table mounting. The system’s portability together with fast and straightforward data acquisition, makes OCT especially well suited for quick in situ evaluation of large museum collections of paintings. A vast collection of seventy-one oil paintings and over one hundred drawings, watercolours, and graphics by Mela Muter (Maria Melania Mutermilch, 1876, Warsaw – 1967, Paris), gathered by Boleslaw and Lina Nawrocki, is now on deposit to the Nicolaus Copernicus University Museum in Torun. Artistically active in the first half of the twentieth century within the Ecole de Paris, Mela Muter became recognized mostly for the portraits depicting socialites of the time, as well as images of motherhood, children and old people. The collection brings specific conservation problems. Since the works were mostly acquired from Muter herself, the attribution is not in question. Nevertheless, the majority of paintings bear signs of extent conservation treatment and/ or alterations performed by the artist in her late years, possibly including adding signatures. The aim of the survey of the group of nine Mela Muter’s paintings and two pastels was to define the conservation issues as well as to indicate the objects and areas for further examination with various analytical techniques. In result, the evaluation of secondary layers (varnishes and putties) was performed for seven paintings. The structure of the paint layer in the area of the signature was analyzed in three paintings. Finally, in case of two pastel paintings, the safety of pigment layer (its distance to the glass) was assessed.